Well, I'm bummed....

[DaveinDallas]

Shoot...

So today I'm calling about whether or not I can finish up my bio credits during the fall and spring while going through the apps process. The person at the admissions office of the school says, yes, you can, no problem. Great.

So somehow during the conversation, it comes out that the school wants to see your last semester, minimum, as a full time student (12 or more hours). So I pipe up and ask,"What about those of us who are on our second career, working 2 and 3 part time jobs and taking 8 hours". The response is," We want to see you as a full time student for your last semester, minimum". I'm thinking,"Will that keep my family fed with a roof over their head. What am I supposed to do, sell plasma?".

I talked to a local pre-med advisor and he confirmed this. I'm supposed to have a meeting with him next week to see where I stand.

Anyone out there in my situation and got accepted? The most I've been able to get is 8 credit hours in an accelerated Gen.Chem and O.Chem course where you take I and II in the same semester. Basically, 3 hour long lectures 2 days a week with 4 hour long labs. It hurt.

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[Robz]

Actually I have never heard of this. If you have your degree and your just knocking out prereqs then I don't think there will be a problem. Especially with a great GPA.

What I believe they want to see if that you can handle a full load and EC activities while maintaining a high GPA and quality of work. If your the part of the family that brings home the bread then there is no way to drop everything and just get a full semester. Seems stupid to me. You'd have to take out school loans just to live on just to be able to apply.

I'd talk to an assistant dean of the school you want to go to. No offense to your premed advisor but a lot of time they are off on their assessment. Call the assisstant dean as they know the ins and outs of what is nessessary.

To me...great GPA, great MCAT, good EC.....progression and passion is what will get you the interviews.

Edit: I know a lot of schools want to see your last semester just to make sure you didn't divebomb after your acceptance.

 

[amoxicillin]

What school are you talking about?

 

[bjolly]

some schools may have that requirement, but I took all my prereqs part time (4-8 credits per semester) while working & had no problem getting accepted. (I'm a nontrad, career changer too, already had a BA & was just doing pre-reqs.) I agree that you should talk to the admissions office of the school you want to apply to.

 

[Amy B]

I have yet to run across any school that requires you to be a full time student. I know they like to see that but realize non-trads and people working full time can't be fulltime. Just include the part about your jobs in your essay and you should be fine.

My friend was accepted to a bunch of schools and she never went full time. She is at EVMS now which is an MD school (I won't hold it against her ) and it never came up about her part time status. She took some semesters that she only had 1 class so she could keep working.

 

[kristabel]

My last semester of classes was the summer my apps went in and I was taking 1 credit hour at one school (so that I could defend my master's thesis and graduate) and 4 credit hours of chemistry at another school (one last pre-med req. left). This never came up in my interviews at all. They did ask why I had transcripts from 6 different schools in my file, but I had a good answer ready for that one (lots of cross-registering!). I think you'll be fine, just explain in your personal statement as Amy B suggested and they'll understand!

 

[YoungFaithful]

I have also never heard of this before in my life.

 

[haldane3]

But how would they know? Do they require semester/quarterly grades prior to matriculation? There's no way to confirm unless you update them...strange...if they don't ask i don't think they need to know

 

[cooldreams]

But how would they know? Do they require semester/quarterly grades prior to matriculation? There's no way to confirm unless you update them...strange...if they don't ask i don't think they need to know

yes but, quite a large move in life to risk something this small... id suggest trying to get ahold of someone else at that school to find out more, or a work around to it. what school is it if you do not mind me asking?? i have never heard of such a thing. and i, like you, am working a full time job already, so to do that would really suck!

 

[DaveinDallas]

Well, as the name says, I'm in Texas. I talked with a particular schools admissions dept. and they told me the 9 hours thing and said it was one item they look at. I called the UTD pre-med advisor and he confirmed that the 'schools' (assuming all allo/osteo in Texas) like to see that. I set up an appt. to speak with him to see what I could do about it.

 

[drbrowneyes]

I already had my degree and was going back to school to finish my pre-reqs. Unless, they counted my 6 hours of summer school as my full-time student classification. I was a part-time student. I was working a full-time job teaching and part-time at a hospital. Fall 2002 - 9 sem hours, Spring 2003 - 8 sem hours, and summer 2003 - 6 sem hours. I got accepted.

 

[indo]

Maybe take a 4 credit class over the internet. This might not be an option if you are going to take all science classes though. I took a finance course over the internet and it was pretty easy.

Shoot...

So today I'm calling about whether or not I can finish up my bio credits during the fall and spring while going through the apps process. The person at the admissions office of the school says, yes, you can, no problem. Great.

So somehow during the conversation, it comes out that the school wants to see your last semester, minimum, as a full time student (12 or more hours). So I pipe up and ask,"What about those of us who are on our second career, working 2 and 3 part time jobs and taking 8 hours". The response is," We want to see you as a full time student for your last semester, minimum". I'm thinking,"Will that keep my family fed with a roof over their head. What am I supposed to do, sell plasma?".

I talked to a local pre-med advisor and he confirmed this. I'm supposed to have a meeting with him next week to see where I stand.

Anyone out there in my situation and got accepted? The most I've been able to get is 8 credit hours in an accelerated Gen.Chem and O.Chem course where you take I and II in the same semester. Basically, 3 hour long lectures 2 days a week with 4 hour long labs. It hurt.

 

[sophiejane]

Well, as the name says, I'm in Texas. I talked with a particular schools admissions dept. and they told me the 9 hours thing and said it was one item they look at. I called the UTD pre-med advisor and he confirmed that the 'schools' (assuming all allo/osteo in Texas) like to see that. I set up an appt. to speak with him to see what I could do about it.

Dave--

I did my prerequisites at UT Austin--a fairly well-known instiutution with about a million pre-meds (or so it seemed). I was working full time and trying to finish up prereqs, taking MCAT, etc. etc...

Here's what I did: I stayed as far away from the pre-med office as humanly possible. At UT Austin, they made this huge deal about getting advised, etc...and you do have to get their signatures on a few things, but in the end, they can't do jack about how you choose to do your prereqs. The people in that office were nothing but discouraging to me, and I vowed to do this IN SPITE of them. All you need them for is one form when you apply--they say it is a letter, but it isn't a rec letter--it's just a certification that you've done everything you said you have done--there is nothing new in that letter. Basically all they do is collect your letters of rec and all your academic information--but you send in your own transcript. It's bureaucracy in action.

You do what is best for you and your family--you just set your own priorities and do this in the way that is best for you, and you will succeed. Forcing someone like you (or me) who is doing this as a second career to fit into their little narrow-minded view of a good "pre-med" is total and utter Cr#p. It's almost like setting you up for failure to make you take a full load in addition to the rest of the committments in your life. Ignore them! In the end, the med schools will understand how much you had on your plate and your being able to handle job, family, and school will speak for itself--and it will say a heck of a lot more than what a 22 year old kid who has never worked a day in their life can put on their application, even if they carry a full load and get straight A's. Schools know this and appreciate it--trust me on that.

Best of luck to you--don't be discouraged!! I hope to see you at TCOM soon!

 

[(nicedream)]

But how would they know? Do they require semester/quarterly grades prior to matriculation? There's no way to confirm unless you update them...strange...if they don't ask i don't think they need to know

You have to send in final transcripts before matriculation. This is how they know you graduated. Also, when you apply through AACOMAS, they never see your transcripts, just the grades AACOMAS reports.

 

[gioia]

Just when it seemed that the admin. process couldn't get wierder...

good luck!

 

[sophiejane]

..and remember that even if they look at it, it is "one thing"--and not a major thing at that. If you can explain your lack of a full course load with other committments, you are fine. Worry not.

 

[DaveinDallas]

Hey thanks all. Maybe I'm just a little bit bummed. I'm waiting to hear on a full time job, now that OChem (yes, I and II in one semester, all A's so far) is done. The finances are getting tight and two part time jobs just aren't going to cut it.

Actually, I may not have been clear. It was the med schools admissions deptartment that told me the line about the full time student. I then called the local 4 year university (UTD) and talked with their pre-med advisor and he confirmed it and indicated it was for all Texas schools.

This afternoon I spoke with the Director of Admissions for the med school in question and he confirmed it but seemed a little more relaxed about it. He said they just wanted to see that you could handle the 'taking a drink of water out of a fire hose' rate of information that happens during the first two years of med. school.

SophieJane - I would dearly love to come to TCOM and it's my first choice and the school I'm really trying to target. I was really impressed with it and the people there. Problem is, I don't know anyone who can pull my application out of the herd and say, "Hey, we need to get this guy, he really WANTS to be here and isn't just using us as a fall back plan if allopathic schools reject him". So, I'm trying to stack the deck in my favor and give it my best shot. I'll get there, it's just a matter of when and how much pain I have to go through.

Cheers....

 

[sophiejane]

Just be yourself in your apps. Shadow a DO (there are zillions of them in the area) and talk about the experience in your essay or your interview. Be honest. Call admissions, write them. Convince them that TCOM is your first choice. Worked for me!

Until then, just keep on truckin'....

Now, back to the firehose for another sip...

 

[OSUdoc08]

Did TCOM tell you that you can't take courses part-time? I know some people down there, and it wouldn't seem likely, so it would be interesting to know that they would be.

 

[DaveinDallas]

Realizing that it's close to blasphemy for a Texan to go to an Ok. school, how's OSUCOM? That's Tulsa, correct?

I'd rather stay in state if I could due to tuition costs, but OSUCOM is my second choice. My wife has some family up in that area, so it might be kinda neat.

How do they view part time students who're trying to keep a family afloat?

I'd really rather not say which school it was here in Texas that I talked to, but the UTD pre med advisor said,"schools" and "they" when I mentioned this to him, implying that it's pretty much a standard thing here in Texas.

But hey, I'm about as subtle as a brick through a window and don't like to take "No" for an answer. So, if persistency has anything to do with it, I'll be in....

 

[OSUdoc08]

Well I'm the Texas that is moving to Oklahoma just for medical school, so I guess if you shall call me a blasphemer, then do so.

I find that the TMDSAS system is poor. It gives schools a false impression of your grades. No matter what grade you got in a class, (i.e. 79, 88, 94, etc.), you only get the base grade (70, 80, 90.) My school used "+" grades, so all my "+'s" were basically erased.

AACOMAS & AMCAS don't do this, so my GPA outside of Texas was actually much higher than in state. This is why I was accepted to several out-of-state schools, but non in-state.

I chose OSU, because it is only 3 1/2-4 hours from north Dallas. This is closer than every med school in Texas other than TCOM, UTSW, & TAMU. If you prefer only DO schools, as it came to pass after learning about osteopathic medicine, then of course your only options are OSU & TCOM.

OSU has the largest osteopathic hospital in the nation & osteopathic medicine has a far larger dominance over medicine in Oklahoma than in Texas, so there a much more opportunies.

Unfortunately, unless you move to OK & live there for a year, you have to pay out of state tuition, which I will be doing, but sufficient loans are available.

As for getting in, OSU-COM let in 11% out-of-staters last year. It seems that they give preference to surrounding states.

No matter what you think your chances are, apply to everywhere that is desirable. Don't skip out on just because you think you can't get in---you never know!

Good luck...

 

[TeeLee]

I know that the OSU main campus is close to Dallas, but isn't the medical school in Tulsa, just across the highway from Tulsa Regional (the osteo hosp)?

 

[DireWolf]

I know that the OSU main campus is close to Dallas, but isn't the medical school in Tulsa, just across the highway from Tulsa Regional (the osteo hosp)?

Yep. OSU-COM is in Tulsa, right down the road from TRMC.

OSU's main campus is in Stillwater, which is about 75 miles west of Tulsa.